NBA PLAYOFFS : A Magic Time for Miller, 123-96 : East: He scores 20 points in first quarter as Pacers put the game away by halftime. Series is even, 3-3.

Frustrated all series by the lack of a pain in the neck to set him off, Reggie Miller finally located another pest in a courtside seat to replace his beloved Spike Lee.

Larry Brown, his coach.

Dared to be great by Brown in the hometown papers, Miller scored 20 points in the first quarter and 36 in all as the Indiana Pacers stomped the Orlando Magic, 123-96, Friday night to tie the NBA Eastern Conference finals, 3-3.

“I’ve been up and down in this series,” said Miller, as subdued off the floor as he was animated on it.

“I always have one game as you guys [in the media] call it. Hopefully, I’ll have another one Sunday.”

Game 7 will be on the Magic’s home court. However, after having been outscored (Indiana led by as many as 35 points), outshot, outrebounded and out-hustled, will the Magic now be psyched out?

Determined to avoid it, Penny Hardaway and Dennis Scott called Orlando’s players together on the court after the game, and everyone vowed to pay the Pacers back in kind.

“We just felt that there’s no use walking off the court hanging our heads,” Scott said, “because we have one more game left. We played so hard all year long to hold the home-court [advantage], and there’s no need to give up now.

“A few of the players said a few [Pacer] guys were trash-talking or pointing fingers when they scored a basket late in the game. You know, that’s the worst thing you can do to a young team like us that’s still hungry.”

Miller began the night averaging 27 points a game in this series, shooting 50% from the field, including 45% on three-pointers.

However, since his classic torching of the New York Knicks in last spring’s Game 5, when he gave movie maker Lee the choke sign, and his follow-up strafings of New York this spring, he has ascended to another level in celebrity and expectations.

“He got 39 that game,” Brown said. “He got 25 in the quarter. I don’t think anybody could have had a better game than he had. But then in Games 6 and 7, reality set in. . . .

“He went through a year, and I think he played pretty well, but a lot’s been expected of him. A lot of kids that we play go at him. It hasn’t been easy, but I think in the playoffs, he’s played very, very well.”

However, Brown isn’t always so delicate. In Friday’s Indianapolis News, asked what he expected of Miller, the Pacer coach replied: “I don’t know. Who can tell?”

Did Miller read it?

“No,” Miller said afterward, “but thanks for telling me.”

For whatever reason, Miller quickly embarked on one of Those Games. His first shot, a three-pointer missed. His next seven, including three three-pointers, hit in rapid-fire succession. He scored his 20 points in a burst that lasted 7:06.

By that time, the Magic was toast, on its way to becoming cinders.

The Pacers led by 11 after the first quarter, by 25 at halftime, by 35 late in the third period.

“We didn’t come out flat,” Magic Coach Brian Hill said. “Indiana was great. Don’t write that--we weren’t flat. . . .

“They just pushed the ball at us, after misses or makes. We gave Reggie Miller a half-dozen open looks behind the three-point line because Nick Anderson had to pick up other people.”

For the first time in the series, the Magic failed to shoot 50% or better from the floor.

The Pacers outrebounded the Magic, 54-32. Mark Jackson, swaggering that swagger once again, had 11 points, 12 assists and several hula dances. Byron Scott broke out of a slump and scored nine points.

Or in other words, the Pacers are in as good shape as they can be for a Game 7 on an opponent’s floor.

The Magic, of course, has never been in a Game 7.

“That could help,” Miller said.

“Besides Horace [Grant], none of their guys has ever been in the trenches as I call it in Game 7.”

Since they haven’t been through this before, Magic fans are advised to zip their lips when Miller takes the court Sunday.